anybody in Raleigh

[barbtries]

who has Clear for internet? i am so over at&t, and switched to them from time warner. running out of choices fast. thanks

[mwooldri]

1. We're in the GSO area...

and Clear is available here. We live outwith our service area but have friends who *do* use Clear. They're happy with it, their top tier allows Netflix streaming quite nicely actually, and is quite reliable.

However it is a wireless service and it will totally depend on how many people are trying to connect with a specific tower at that time. If there's a lot of Clear subscribers in your area, expect slowdowns at peak hours, not because of anything sinister - just because too many people are trying to access the same service at the same time.

However choices for broadband *are* limited: Cable (TWC), DSL (AT&T), Wimax (Clear) or satellite (Hughesnet or Wildblue). I can only recommend satellite for those who don't have any of the three above alternatives - because even just AT&T at a slower speed is better than dialup.

But Clear isn't too bad, and ironically Time Warner Cable are investors into Clear... (as is Sprint btw) Sprint's 4G network and Time Warner Cables' Mobile Roadrunner are basically same as Clear's service.

If you have Sprint phone service on a contract, a good way to test out to see if Clear would work would be to take up any Sprint's "free USB dongle" offer for 4G service and test it out... if within 30 days it's clear it is not going to work then forget Clear... it's the same thing.

[barbtries]

2. thank you mwooldri!

where i live i did just have occasion to test out sprint's mobile broadband. it was terrible. in my complex satellites are not allowed (also i don't have TV). i'll stick with at&t until the next time they really piss me off i guess. :(